Children's Health

Tools & Resources

Worried About Lyme Disease?

Take precautions.

WebMD Feature

WebMD Feature Archive

June 26, 2000 -- When Duchess County, New York, resident Sally picked up 14-year-old Amy from a summer program last year, she noticed that her daughter seemed unusually fatigued. A couple of weeks later, Sally was shocked to discover that the side of Amy's face had begun drooping. Sally immediately suspected what her doctor confirmed: Despite having taken what the family thought were adequate precautions against ticks, the girl had developed facial nerve palsy, a symptom of untreated Lyme disease.

While numbers are on the rise among all age groups, the increase is particularly worrisome to people with children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the percentage of Lyme sufferers under age 16 -- one of the groups that spend the most time outdoors and have the highest rate of diagnosis -- has been gradually rising, from 21.7% in 1992 to 26.1% in 1998. "It's definitely an issue, especially for people whose houses are near wooded areas," says Lisa, a mother of two in suburban New Jersey. "Parents see it as a real problem."

Recommended Related to Children

Q: My 7-year-old son likes to swallow his bubblegum. I’ve heard that
it will stay in his stomach forever. True?
A: This old wives’ tale is very popular on the playground, but it’s
definitely FALSE.
"It is true that most of the components of bubblegum are not found in
nature," says Robynne Chutkan, MD, a gastroenterologist and assistant professor
of medicine at Georgetown University. "And as such we don’t have the enzymes to
break them down. But eventually gum does get through the intestine...

The disease is also a growing concern to people living in the most heavily affected regions of the country -- the Northeast and upper Midwest -- though epidemiologists have confirmed cases in nearly every state. "In the last several years, the numbers have ranged between 12,000 and 16,000," says David T. Dennis, MD, coordinator of the Lyme Disease Program at the CDC.

Lyme disease is transmitted to humans by deer ticks and black-legged ticks. Initial symptoms, which show up three to 32 days after the bite, are flu-like in nature; most, but not all, sufferers develop a bull's-eyerash at the site of the bite. Facial nerve palsy, like Amy had, can also occur. Sufferers who aren't treated soon enough after the tick bite can suffer chronic problems ranging from joint pain to heart problems to neurological disorders.

While experts warn people to take precautions during the spring and summer months, when the risk for contracting Lyme disease peaks, they aren't calling for extreme measures. "Parents shouldn't worry so much that they prevent their children from playing outside," advises Henry M. Feder, MD, a professor of family medicine and pediatrics at the University of Connecticut Health Center. "Even if you do get a tick bite, in most areas chances are only one in 100 to one in 1,000 that you'll get the disease."